Tales of Woe
by Clintasha4evr
Summary: Ward is trying to deal with Skye's betrayal and ends up receiving advice from a not-so-random stranger he meets in a bar. **Takes place immediately after the events of "The Girl in the Flower Dress"**


**So, I've sort of been MIA for a while, and I've felt really bad about it. I sort of started writing this one-shot for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. cuz I love it sooo much and I was uber inspired by the whole Skye betrayal storyline. So, since there wasn't a new episode of S.H.I.E.L.D. this week, I decided to post this. Don't forget to tell me what you thought!**

****Takes place immediately after the events of "The Girl in the Flower Dress"****

**Tales of Woe**

Grant Ward wasn't usually one to drink. In fact, the only times he really drank any form of alcohol was on special occasions or when he was extremely stressed. And right now, he was stressed.

It was almost 4:00am when the Bus landed at a S.H.I.E.L.D. base in Nevada after their eventful mission in Hong Kong, and, despite having had two drinks already with May, Ward was still craving a drink of some kind. So, while the rest of his team slept, he wandered off of the Bus and into the base in search of a bar.

Now, normally the idea of a bar within a S.H.I.E.L.D. base would be ridiculous, but Ward happened to know for a fact that this particular base _did_ have a bar. They were only a few miles from Vegas after all…

The place was rather easy to find. Ward came across it while searching the second floor of the base and found that the doors were wide open. When he entered the strong smell of beer and liquor stung his nostrils as he made his way towards the bar and took a seat on one of the barstools.

"What can I get you?" The bartender asked as soon as he sat down.

"Just a beer." Ward told him, resisting the urge to ask for something a lot stronger.

The bartender nodded and fixed him his drink before placing it in front of him. He mumbled a quiet 'thanks' and sipped on his beer slowly, staring down at his hands for what felt like hours. Only when he noticed another agent sit down a few stools to the right of him and order a shot of bourbon did he finally glance up.

They locked eyes for a moment and nodded to each other before returning their attention to their drinks. Suddenly unable to control the need for something a little stronger, Ward polished off his beer and signaled the bartender to come over.

"Another beer?" He offered.

"Actually, I think I'll take a White Lightening." Ward responded, earning a weary look from the bartender. Nevertheless, he complied and brought him a tall shot glass of the potent alcohol.

"Damn." The agent that had just come in suddenly said with a low whistle. "That's a pretty strong drink."

"That's the idea." Ward muttered.

"Rough night?" The stranger asked.

"You have _no_ idea."

"Try me."

Ward glanced at the man out of the corner of his eye and found him staring at him intently.

"It's really not that great of a story." Ward sighed. "I'd hate to bore you with my tales of woe."

"If you're ordering a drink like _that_," the stranger gestured to the shot glass that was still sitting in front of him. "Then it's probably a better story than you think."

"Fair enough." Ward shrugged before downing his drink and cringing as the liquid burned his throat.

"So what _is_ the story?"

"The girl I was training betrayed our team in order to protect her boyfriend. A man ended up dying because of it." He explained.

"Yikes." The stranger shook his head. "That hurts."

"I mean, what the hell was she thinking? We trusted her, and she stabbed us in the back!" Ward began to rant. "Oh, and here's the kicker, everyone is expecting me to continuing training her as though nothing even happened."

Once he stopped talking neither man said anything for a few moments, creating an awkward silence.

"That's a difficult position to be in." The stranger finally said.

"Yeah, like I said, you have _no_ idea." Ward told him.

"Actually, you're wrong."

"Really?" He said skeptically. "You mean to tell me that something like this happened to you?"

"As a matter a fact, yes." The stranger said confidently. "In fact it's freaky how similar it is to a situation I was in."

"Right." Ward signaled for the bartender to bring him another drink.

"How long have you worked for S.H.I.E.L.D.?" He suddenly asked.

"Four and a half years."

"You wouldn't happen to remember hearing anything about a mole that leaked more than fifty classified documents, would you?"

"Um, I vaguely remember hearing of that incident when I first joined. A lot of people were talking about it, saying that it was the biggest leak in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s history." Ward replied.

"Do you know who the mole was?" The mysterious agent asked.

"I know that they were caught." Ward said, taking in the man's face. "Do _you_ know who the mole was?"

"Yes. As a matter of fact, I was her S.O." He told him. "I'd been working with her for almost a year when she leaked the files to her former employers."

"Wow…" Ward mumbled. "What happened to her?"

"To be honest, after the stunt she pulled I didn't trust her. I'd thought she'd changed, but as it turned out, the only reason she'd joined was so that she could screw us over." The stranger shook his head. "However, things turned out to be more complicated that we'd originally thought, so we ended up letting her stay on."

"How were you able to trust her?" Ward asked.

"It wasn't easy." He admitted. "Trusting someone after they stab you in the back is always a risk. In the end it came down to one decision."

"And what was that?"

"Whether or not she was worth that risk."

"And was she?" Ward wondered.

The agent smiled to himself and nodded.

"Yes she was." He said, his smile growing wider when caught sight another agent entering the bar. "In fact, here she comes now."

Ward looked in the direction the agent was looking and saw a petite red haired woman walking their way.

"You'd better not be drunk." She warned as she approached them.

"Nice to see you too." The other agent rolled his eyes and smirked.

"I'm being serious. I do _not_ want to have to drag your sorry, drunken ass back to your bunk again. We both know how that went last time…"

"Really? You're going to bring _that_ up?"

Ward listened as the two agents bickered with one another until finally the female agent convinced the other to leave.

"Fury's gonna have your head if you show up with a hangover tomorrow." She told him.

"I know, I know." He sighed, shoving himself off of the barstool and tapping Ward's shoulder. "Hey, it was nice meeting you Agent…uh, sorry, I never got your name…"

"It's Ward. Grant Ward." He informed him as he held out his hand.

The other man took it and shook.

"Clint Barton." He introduced himself before turning to the woman. "And this is my partner, Natasha Romanoff."

"Hey." Agent Romanoff nodded to him.

"Hi." Ward replied, hiding his shock.

"Anyways, I hope everything works out with that girl of yours. Think about what I told you, okay?"

"Okay." Ward agreed. "Thanks."

"Good luck." Agent Barton gave him a mock salute before throwing an arm around his partner's shoulders and allowing her to lead them both out of the bar.

Ward looked over his shoulder and watched them leave, catching Agent Barton lean down and peck his partner on the cheek before they walked out of sight. He turned back around and felt a new sense of hope began to form in his mind. After hearing the things Barton had told him and realizing how much his story paled in comparison, he was starting to think that forgiving Skye might be easier than he'd originally thought…

**So what'd you think? It's just a one-shot so I probably won't go on after this…unless I get a lot of positive feedback or come up with some awesome storyline. It all depends. But seriously, please review. I'm really curious about what you thought!**


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